Please join the College of Design for the spring 2026 landscape architecture lecture series. 

 Mario Schjetnan

Grupo de Diseño Urbano

Mario Schjetnan, the founder of Grupo de Diseño Urbano (GDU), holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) (1968), and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley (1970); he was awarded the Loeb Fellowship from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (1984) to pursue advanced environmental studies. In 1995, the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Léon awarded him an Honorary PhD in Architecture and in 2025 the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California also awarded him an Honorary PhD in Architecture.

Schjetnan belongs to a generation of landscape architects, architects, and urbanists who became aware of the environmental impact of urban development and its consequences on life, the planet, and its inhabitants. He created new theories and practices for the design of cities based on environmental knowledge, cultural memory, and consideration for the inhabitant's quality of life, well-being, and a new ethical and aesthetic relationship with the environment.